Dear Clinton Community: I hope you had a merry and joyous Christmas with family and friends, and that your New Year is off to a good start. While many of us are diligently working on our new year’s resolutions, we at Presbyterian College are starting fresh with a brand new semester! The start of the spring semester is always an exciting time at a college campus. The campus community has recovered from exams and the end of year rush, and has arrived back to campus ready to tackle the new semester. Freshmen have the first semester under their belts, have made friends and have gotten to know their professors - College life now fits like an old hat. Seniors are looking forward with anticipation and excitement to graduating in just a few short months - they can see the finish line! While fall semester is certainly filled with hustle and bustle on and off campus, the spring semester usually brings with it an increased level of energy and excitement. There are several service projects taking place on campus during the semester. This includes, but is not limited to, the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Up Til Dawn (Feb. 18), to bring awareness and raise money for the hospital; and the Panhellenic Council’s Circle of Sisterhood Book Drive (Feb. 24). In March, the College will host the Special Olympics (March 18), and will host the Thornwell Easter Egg Hunt (March 30). For more information on PC service projects visit the Student Volunteer Services page on the PC website at www.presby.edu/svs. Students will also be participating in several service projects in the community to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Jan. 18). This includes Field Day at Thornwell, projects at Musgrove Mill, working in the community garden at Friendship AME Church, and preparing snacks for the after-school program at Christ Central Church in Joanna. Dr. Julia Wilkins, assistant professor of education, will be hosting a workshop on how to work with people with developmental disabilities, in preparation for the Special Olympics. In April, the College hosts the annual Honors Day Symposium - a day when PC students share the results of their scholarly efforts and research with the PC community. Past symposiums have included art, literary, humanist, and scientific presentations and posters from students of all years. Examples of presentations and posters in 2015 include: Workplace Place Violence and Aggression: Glorified Bullying for Adults, Isolation And Characterization of the Glycated HDL Subfraction in Type 2 Diabetes Patients, and Upregulation of Cancer Genes in Breast Tumors with FGD1 Expression. The symposium also includes senior art projects and music honors recitals. The Honors day Convocation, to be held on the same day, also honors outstanding academic work completed by PC students. It is also a busy time for PC Athletics. There are several home games coming up in the next several weeks, and as always I encourage you to attend these and any events on campus. The PC men’s basketball team plays UNC Asheville Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. The baseball team goes up against Furman Feb. 23 at 2 p.m., women’s basketball plays against Campbell Feb. 20 at 2 p.m., and the women’s lacrosse team plays Cincinnati Feb. 21 at 12 p.m. For a full listing of games, visit www.gobluehose.com and click on the “schedules” tab. Students are the lifeblood of the College and we are hosting several events on campus in the upcoming months to introduce prospective students to PC. February 5 is Pharmacy Preview Day - and I am pleased to say that registration is already completely full. On February 13 we will host students competing for our top scholarship – the Griffith Scholarship. During Accepted Students Day on April 9 admitted students of the PC Class of 2020 can meet classmates, participate in small group sessions where they can ask current students questions, take a campus tour, attend an activity fair where they can meet professors and learn about student organizations, and end the day with a meal in the Greenville Dining Hall. We will also host a Preview PC Day on April 23 for prospective students. For more information on Admissions events visit www.presby.edu/admissions/home/visit. We launched a new homepage on the www.presby.edu website during the first week of January, designed to appeal to the interests of prospective students and their parents. We plan to launch the new site in its entirety by Jan. 29. Your continued support of PC and all of our students and their families is greatly appreciated. I look forward to another successful semester at PC and an inspiring 2016. I hope this will be your best year yet - filled with the love of family, good friends, and most importantly - good health! (Bob Staton is president of Presbyterian College.)
